Fort Walton Beach Council minutes — 03-18-08 special minutes — reading text

work environment, if he thought the employees had sufficient claim and legitimate concern about that.  Special Council 3- 11- 08 33 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS cant. Mr. Mattimore responded he thought there are employees who believe they are subject to retaliation and have been adversely affected by it and as a result he thought there is exposure to liability. Mr. Holmes asked why Mr. Mattimore said emotions ran high during the interview process. Mr. Mattimore replied he had employees that became emotional to the point where they were crying and could not continue to speak. He said he asked closed ended and open ended questions and they were also offered r an opportunity to respond to open ended questions. L Mr. Miller asked when Mr. Mattimore started to do business in Fort Walton Beach. Mr. Mattimore replied he thought he started when Billy Mikel was the Human Resource Director. Mr. Miller noted several witness summaries were not included in the report. Mr. Mattimore replied witnesses that had no information about the charge of the investigation and came to them with completely extraneous concerns were not included in the summary. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Mattimore to tell them the nature of the inquiry. Mr. Mattimore responded that the Mayor initiated an investigation to look into the working relationships and workplace interaction among the Charter Officers and among the Charter Officers and the Officials and employees of the City. Mr. Miller asked about the last paragraph that it is not the intent of the inquiry to draw conclusions. Mr. Mattimore replied he did not approach it to make recommendation or action. He said it is a report of facts. Mr. Miller commented Mr. Mattimore used adjectives instead of exact numbers which he thought biased the conclusions or summary of findings. He asked if the issues brought out in the report were brought to the attention of the City Manager or to the attention of Council. Mr. Mattimore replied he asked certain people that question and they were concerned with retaliation and reminded Council he had witnesses that were told they could not to go to Human Resources to report those things. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Mattimore if he was aware there have been Council meetings previously with the intent to fire the Finance Director and at those times the floor is open to everyone to bring testimony before the Council. Mr. Mattimore replied whether that is the case or not, those people came to him and relayed their impressions and observations, and he did not know why or whether they came here before he had no knowledge. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Mattimore where the information came from about legal counsel, the actuary, and the auditor, if that was provided in testimony. Mr. Mattimore replied that was told him by the Finance Director herself that was the interaction between her and the pension attorney that the pension attorney said he would not communicate with her except in writing. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Mattimore in dealing with the people in finance if he asked them how their overtime currently compared to overtime in the last year as far as relationships and workloads and so forth. Mr. Mattimore did not recall how overtime changed coming up. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Mattimore why he would make a statement that " all but one of the Finance Department employees", and how he could draw a conclusion like that when he only interviewed six. Mr. Mattimore replied he was referring to those he interviewed and they appear on the witness list. He said it was all but one of the Finance employees that appear on the witness list. He said all but one of the Finance employees he interviewed, which included five key finance employees, described this in that way. Mr. Miller asked if those five key employees worked in the same section. Mr. Mattimore replied they all described to him that they worked in the Finance Department, they have different duties and different jobs but they work in the same general working place. 3 4 Special Council 3- 11- 08 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS cant. Mr. Miller asked where the information came from that the City' s Pension Counsel, despite his excellent reputation in the legal community was AV rating by Martindale- Hubbel, the highest rating an attorney can achieve from his peers. Mr. Mattimore replied that is something he knew for a fact. Mr. Miller asked why that was included and asked if that inflamed the report to contribute information. Mr. Mattimore replied no, not if it is a fact. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Mattimore if he was paid to be a witness, to provide testimony. Mr. Mattimore replied he was paid to find facts. Mr. Miller commented there were things brought up, and adjectives were included and what he saw. Mr. Minich stated if Mr. Miller is not asked questions, he protested. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Mattimore why he would make the same statement twice on one page that all save Barnes either expressly or impliedly stated they would resign if Absher remains Finance Director. Mr. Mattimore replied he thought that is one of the most important facts that came to light as a result of the J.' 1.. . '. 1. I, I: i investigation and deserves that sort of attention and is important to note. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Mattimore why he used the words "universally well respected" when the sample was so small. Mr. Mattimore replied he thought the people he interviewed were key managers and employees of the City, and that is a factual statement that is born out by the interviews. He talked to a lot of people for three days and that was the result. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Mattimore if he asked Carole Jones why she did not report to the City Manager or to someone that Absher had attempted to force Jones in approving a requisition without the consent of the City Manager and Jones had said that violated City policy. Mr. Mattimore replied he did not ask Carole Jones that question but he would have to go back to listen to the tape if that came up in conversation. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Mattimore if he asked Tom Murray why it wasn' t reported to the City Manager or brought before the Council when he said that Absher exceed her spending authority by ten times the authorized amount on one occasion, and on another occasion transferred funds without authorization which caused a funding shortage and requisition delays for his Department. Mr. Mattimore replied he did recall that and maybe that was brought up and he would have to listen to the tape, but he did not challenge anyone on why they were bringing forward information that they thought was relevant to this point; he was gathering information and not trying to attack information. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Mattimore if he asked Mark Wiltsie, in his interview when he accused the Finance Director "misallocates funds to delay progress", why he did not bring that information. Mr. Minich interjected that Mr. Mattimore has answered those questions in general. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Mattimore if he provided the information that those were grounds for malfeasance and they could prosecute the financial record. Mr. Mattimore replied his job in the process was to gather information within the scope of the investigation and not to impinge it in any way by trying to cross lines. Mr. Reeves asked Mr. Mattimore if the Finance Director had anyone to specifically talk to. Mr. Mattimore replied Ms. Absher mentioned people who were then contacted and she was given the opportunity to provide additional documents and she provided a number of additional documents; she was given free reign to allow them to see and hear whatever she wanted them to see and hear. Mr. Reeves asked Mr. Mattimore if it was a candid interview with the employees who came forward without specific, leading questions to ask. Mr. Mattimore replied there were no leading questions, they I were factual questions and then some open ended questions that would allow them the opportunity to take the conversation and dialogue where they felt it important. Mr. Reeves asked if everyone, including Ms. Absher, seem very candid and valid. Mr. Mattimore said he found everyone to be cooperative and to desire to provide him information, including Ms. Absher.  Special Council 3- 11- 08 35 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS cant. Mr. Garvie asked Mr. Mattimore when or how he saw the situation developing. Mr. Mattimore replied he first got some wind of it when he was asked by, Council to assist in the development of a contract for the Finance Director, it was clear there was some communication disorder starting to fester, and rarely but from time to time in the other context of his work with the City he would catch wind of rumors and concerns floating about. He said he counseled against over reaction to them but as of late some conversations he has had with the Mayor and Councilman Pullen he thought it had reached the point where some more formal action was probably appropriate, so he thought the Mayor' s charge was a good r idea. Mr. Garvie asked Mr. Mattimore if prior to the investigation if he had given any advice to anyone with regard to this situation. Mr. Mattimore replied on one or two occasions there was a question that came up that he weighed in on regarding an issue having to do with a personnel file and an issue having to do with public records. He said he had not been asked to advise about any kind of action or any complaint or complaint from the Finance Department about their work environment. Mr. Garvie asked Mr. Mattimore as the City' s labor attorney if he saw it as his responsibility to give some advice on what he thinks should be done as he perceives something like that. Mr. Mattimore replied if he was asked, he was not made aware of the nature of the situation. He said when the five or so people in the Finance Department came to speak to him about their work environment, it was all new to him, he was not aware of the nature of the problem. Mr. Garvie asked Mr. Mattimore if he would make a recommendation that the City look into some kind of binding mediation. Mr. Mattimore replied if he was asked he would say the City has an obligation to ensure their managers do not create a hostile work environment for their subordinates and they have to take all steps to see that does not occur. He did not know if he would recommend mediation in this particular case, this is not the kind of thing that would lend itself to mediation. Dr. Pullen acknowledged he approached Mr. Mattimore about his concern with the City and asked